Katie West / Project: The moment of separation

Katie West
Noongar Ballardong, York, WA
Project: The moment of separation

Katie West an artist and Yindjibarndi woman based in Noongar Ballardong boodja. Her practice is defined by experiments in a 'custodial ethic', as termed by Murri academic Mary Graham, grounded in the understanding that the health of human society and Country mirror one another. Katie’s installations, textile pieces, and happenings invite attention to the ways we weave our histories, places, and more-than-human kinships. In 2022, Katie presented the solo exhibition ‘We Hold You Close’, with curator Eloise Sweetman, at PICA for the Perth Festival and participated in group exhibitions ‘Primavera 2022: Young Australian Artists’, MCA, Sydney and ‘Tracks We Share: Contemporary Art of the Pilbara’, produced by FORM and presented at AGWA. In 2023, Katie was a ‘Ramsay Art Prize’ finalist, presented at ‘The National 4’, Sydney, and in the USA as part of the Independent Curators International (ICI) supported touring exhibition, ‘Actions for the Earth’, curated by Sharmila Wood.

Katie West will produce video work, sculptural pieces, and a photographic series that spiral out from her mother's separation from her grandmother at birth in 1969. The project seeks an in-depth and visceral understanding of this moment by examining adoption records and relevant institutional and domestic spaces in Perth, WA. This project also spirals into this event from our ancestral Countries (Yindjibarndi and others in the Pilbara, WA) where she will undertake a self-directed residency. From Karratha, West visit places of significance to her family, including Murujuga and Millstream Station; meet family to discuss water flows of the region, environmental impacts of pastoral stations and mining; research deep and recent archaeological histories to expand knowledge of heritage and enrich relationships with the materials she uses in her practice. This research period will inform sound design, which will be developed on residency at DESA, Ubud, with composer Simon Charles.

website: katiewularniwest.com

instagram: @katiewularni